Strike
by Witch of Lock
Summary: Kamui wins a contest and gets the local bowling alley for free for one night. Hilarity ensues.


"Hey guys! I won a contest!" Kamui burst through the door of Card Capital with a post card in his hand. Aichi looked at him in confusion.

"What kind of contest, Kamui?" he asked. Misaki watched on from the cash register.

"We get to have the bowling alley for one night for free!" the middle schooler explained.

"That's great, but we're supposed to have a tournament tonight. We can't just cancel it to go bowling," Misaki said. She returned to reading her book.

"That's okay, Misaki!" Shin beamed. He seemed to be taking out a pair of bowling shoes from the back of the store.

"Since when have those been there?!" Misaki asked. Shin ignored her.

"We can make it a bowling tournament instead!" He also picked up a bowling ball, but ended up dropping it on his foot.

"I know! Let's invite Ren and the others too," Aichi suggested, completely ignoring Shin's cries of pain in the background.

The Card Capital Bowling Tournament was a go. The rules were simple. After one game (ten frames), the winner would be decided. That winner would get three packs of the newest Fighter's collection along with store credit.

"Thank you for coming to Card Capital's first ever bowling tournament!" Shin said over the alley's intercom while trying to keep his balance on his crutch. Kai listened intently before leaning over and whispering to Tetsu.

"I haven't bowled before. How do you even play?"

"Well... See those pins? You have to knock them down with a heavy ball but you can't cross the foul line. If you knock them all over, you get a strike and-" Tetsu turned around to see an incredibly confused Kai. He cleared his throat. "See those pins? Those are your opponent's rearguards. If yoi knock them all down at the same time, it's... It's like getting a critical trigger and dealing damage to your opponent's vanguard."

"Thank you, Tetsu. I understand now."

Aichi looked around. Ren was trying out different bowling balls. Misaki and Kourin were making small talk. Morikawa was trying to pick up the biggest bowling ball in the place. Everyone seemed relaxed.

At the start of the tournament, Naoki was the first to bowl from Aichi's section.

"Alllllll right! Let's go!" Naoki easily picked up a bowling ball and scored a strike. However, he heard a loud buzzing noise. "Ow! Ow! What is that?!" He looked down and saw his foot had crossed the line.

"That's a foul, Porcupine Head."

"Don't call me that, Bowl Cut!" As Shingo and Naoki fought, Aichi desperately tried to calm the two.

"Ren? What are you doing?" Asaka asked. At their table, Ren seemed to be examining his bowling ball. He felt its smooth surface and placed his ear to it, as if he were waiting for it to tell him what to do.

"I'm listening for a sign... A sign that will lead me to victory! Speak to me, O Bowling Ball!" The intercom buzzed to life.

"Will aisle 21 please resume their game?" At that moment, thinking it was the bowling ball speaking to him, Ren perked up.

"We're aisle 21! The bowling ball really did speak to me! Let's go!" Ren picked up the ball, released it, and landed a strike.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the alley, Kamui was showing off to Emi and Mai.

"Look, Emi! Watch me bowl a spare!" he rolled the ball down the aisle and knocked over the remaining two pins.

"Great job, Kamui!" Emi cheered.

"If you ever want... I can give you some bowling tips sometime or-" he looked at Emi's electronic scoresheet and saw that she was scoring higher than he. "-I mean... We should go bowling more often! Yeah!"

It was Aichi's turn to bowl again. He couldn't really roll the ball hard enough to knock over many pins. He looked at the next aisle over and saw Kai bowl. The brunet landed a strike almost right away.

"CRITICAL TRIGGER! ALL TO THE VANGUARD! AND I STAND-"  
"No no, Kai. You don't limit break until the tenth frame!" Miwa corrected him.

"Wow... Maybe I should try being as enthusiastic as Kai..." Aichi told himself. He took his turn and knocked down almost all of the pins on his first try.

While this was going on, Misaki tried to perfect her form.

"If I could just make one strike... Then I could memorize how I did it and do it again and again..." However, she only ended up remembering how to get a 7-10 split.  
"Here. I'll show you how it's done," Kourin stated. She fared no better.

"Haha! I am the master of all trades! And it just so happens that today is my lucky day! Bowling has nothing on the great Morikawa! It's time for me to show these newbies who's boss!" Morikawa picked up the largest ball he could find and threw it down the lane, and straight into the gutter.

And so the rounds went on. After he was notified that all the games were completed, Shin took the intercom once more.

"Okay, everyone. The results are in! In first place is Kai Toshiki with a score of 250 points! Wow! That's almost perfect!" Kai walked over, received his prize, and sat back down. Kyou was shouting in the background, but no one seemed to hear him.

"Wow! Kai is so cool!" Aichi commented.

"In second place is Suzugamori Ren. He gets two packs of his choice.

"Ooooooooo! I hope I pull a Phantom Blaster Dragon!" Ren said, grabbing a pack of Eclipse of Illusionary Shadows.

"But Ren... You already have four..." Asaka said.

"But I only have two SPs!"

"And in third place... Is Sendou Emi!"

"Me?! Wow!" Emi stood up, dusted herself off, and ran over to retrieve her prize. It wasn't much. She got a single pack of a Bermuda Triangle booster set.

"Congratulations, Emi!" Kamui shouted as he and Mai applauded.

After the competition, everyone left the building group by group until the building was vacant... Except for Kyou. The lights shut off and he heard the doors lock right before he could leave. In his hand was a certificate for a perfect score.


End file.
